WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve on Friday said it was seeking to permanently bar a former Barclays Bank employee from the banking business for allegedly manipulating foreign exchange trades. ...

A South African court on Friday threw out the findings of a public anti-graft watchdog that Barclays Africa unduly benefited from an apartheid-era bailout of another bank and should repay. The Public Protector had said in a report last year it had found South Africa's apartheid government and central bank breached the constitution by giving Bankorp, a bank later acquired by Absa, the retail banking unit of Barclays Africa, a series of bailouts between 1986 to 1995. The agency, a constitutionally mandated anti-corruption agency led by Busisiwe Mkhwebane, had ordered in its report that Barclays Africa must repay 1.1 billion rand ($83 million/£58.9 million) to the state as it had unduly benefited from the Bankorp bailouts.

Revenues at the world's 12 biggest investment banks fell to their lowest levels since 2008 last year, a survey showed on Friday, while a return to more volatile global markets in 2018 could be a mixed blessing for their business. "In January banks were thinking '2018 will be bad for equities revenues but not as bad as 2017', but now with the volatility of the last two weeks all bets are off," Amrit Shahani, research director at analytics firm Coalition said. Revenues for the 12 investment banks in the survey fell to $150 billion in 2017, a 4 percent decline on 2016, Coalition said, with falls in income from trading in equities and fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC), two of their three main business lines, with the latter dropping 11 percent.

Commodities-related revenue at the 12 biggest investment banks fell by 42 percent last year to its lowest since at least 2006, a report by financial industry analytics firm Coalition said on Friday. Revenue from commodity trading, selling derivatives to investors and other activities in the sector fell to $2.5 billion in 2017 from $4.3 billion the previous year, it said in a report. Revenue was the lowest since Coalition began analysing bank data in 2006, it said.

One bank has expressed its regrets for the unravelling volatility trade. Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN.S) and Nomura Co Ltd have said they would kill two exchange-traded notes that effectively bet on little movement in stock prices and lost most of their value last week when the opposite happened.

Moody's ABCP activity for the period ending February 9, 2018 NO RATING IMPACT ON THE FOLLOWING ABCP PROGRAMS FROM JANUARY 29, 2018 THROUGH FEBRUARY 9, 2018: We have reviewed the following US ABCP programs ...

Moody's Investors Service has assigned a Aa2 enhanced ratings to Custodial Receipts (Barclays), Series 2017-YX1072 (the Receipts) evidencing beneficial ownership of the State of Illinois, General Obligation ...

U.S. defence contractor General Dynamics Corp, has agreed to buy IT and cyber security group CSRA Inc for $9.6 billion, including debt, as dealmaking in the sector heats up following a series of major hacks in recent years. Barclays Plc has been charged a second time by UK authorities over its 2008 emergency fundraising, raising the stakes for the British bank in its legal battle over the cash injections it arranged from Qatari investors to survive the financial crisis. Rupert Murdoch's Twenty-First Century Fox Inc has offered a series of steps to guarantee the editorial independence of Sky News to assuage concerns raised by the UK's competition watchdog over the company's bid to take full control of the pan-European broadcaster Sky.

Britain's Serious Fraud Office has charged Barclays' (BARC.L) operating subsidiary with giving Qatari investors an illegal loan which was then used to prop up its shares during the banking crisis, deepening the lender's legal difficulties. Barclays denies the SFO's allegation that the $3 billion loan it made to Qatar in November 2008 was connected with a Qatari investment in the British bank which ultimately helped it avoid a British government rescue, unlike its rivals Lloyds (LLOY.L) and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L). Qatar, which is a major investor in Britain with real estate and other assets, has not been accused of wrongdoing itself, but public companies in Britain are normally prohibited from lending money for the purchase of their own shares, known as "financial assistance".

Britain's Serious Fraud Office has charged Barclays' operating subsidiary with giving Qatari investors an illegal loan which was then used to prop up its shares during the banking crisis, deepening the lender's legal difficulties. Barclays denies the SFO's allegation that the $3 billion loan it made to Qatar in November 2008 was connected with a Qatari investment in the British bank which ultimately helped it avoid a British government rescue, unlike its rivals Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland. Qatar, which is a major investor in Britain with real estate and other assets, has not been accused of wrongdoing itself, but public companies in Britain are normally prohibited from lending money for the purchase of their own shares, known as "financial assistance".

Barclays is likely to follow other major lenders in the United States in stopping customers from buying Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies with its credit cards, according to an interview with a senior executive at its credit card unit. "We are making the decision that we will likely no[t] allow cryptocurrency purchases on the card," Paul Wilmore, managing director at Barclaycard, told Bank Innovation blog. A spokeswoman for Barclays in London said that the bank is reviewing its policy on a country-by-country basis and that it had not yet changed its policy.

Barclays is likely to follow other major lenders in the United States in stopping customers from buying Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies with its credit cards, according to an interview with a senior executive at its credit card unit. "We are making the decision that we will likely no[t] allow cryptocurrency purchases on the card," Paul Wilmore, managing director at Barclaycard, told Bank Innovation blog. A spokeswoman for Barclays in London said that the bank is reviewing its policy on a country-by-country basis and that it had not yet changed its policy.

Here's everything you need to know
before Monday's opening bell :
Broadcom
has secured as much as $100 billion of debt financing for its hostile bid for Qualcomm
.
Ford
plans to up production of the Expedition and Lincoln Navigator.
Comcast
is reportedly contemplating reviving its pursuit of Twenty-First Century Fox
.
Barclays
faces a new charge in relation to its controversial financial crisis fundraising.
U.S. stock futures pointed toward sharp gains
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